The legislation, which was authored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), and co-sponsored by 62 senators, would reaffirm U.S. policy to reinforce security cooperation with Israel. It was approved Tuesday during a committee business meeting.

The legislation is expected to move to the Senate floor for consideration.

In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed companion legislation that was sponsored by Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). The legislation passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 411-2.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for both pieces of legislation during its annual policy conference in March.

New initiative will advance energy cooperation between the two countries

On June 27th, Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver signed an agreement between Canada and Israel to advance energy cooperation between the two countries. The agreement includes commitments to share policy expertise in energy management, promote industrial cooperation, and collaborate in various fields of innovation – including environmental best practices and unconventional sources of energy. Parallel to this initiative, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has been engaging with Canada’s energy industries to explore opportunities in Israel’s nascent energy sector, an effort which will only be strengthened by yesterday’s announcement.

“We applaud Minister Oliver and the federal government for launching an initiative that will only enhance Canada’s position as a world leader in energy,” said David Koschitzky, Chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and other Canadian Federations. “With the recent discovery of oil and natural gas in Israel, this agreement provides an opportunity to leverage Canadian expertise for the goal of Israeli energy independence. For Canada, it offers greater access to a burgeoning marketplace of both customers and innovators – both crucial for creating Canadian jobs in a fragile global economy.”

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has joined the effort to urge the International Olympic Committee to hold a moment of silence at the London Olympics for the Munich 11.

Westerwelle joins Canada’s House of Commons, 100 Australian lawmakers and the U.S. Senate in the call to remember the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were killed at the Munich Games in 1972 by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.

Westerwelle sent a letter Tuesday to the IOC President Jacques Rogge urging him to reconsider his objection to a minute of silence.

“This tragic terrorist attack in my country was directed not only at the Israeli Olympic team. It was also an attack on the Olympic Games and the Olympic idea of promoting peace and friendship among the nations,” Westerwelle wrote, according to the Times of Israel.

A moment of silence for the 11 Israelis, he added, would be “a humanitarian gesture and a fitting way to send the message that violence and terror are incompatible with the Olympic idea.”

While IOC officials have participated in memorial ceremonies hosted by Jewish communities, the body has not commemorated the '72 tragedy during the Games other than on the day after the massacre.

Despite the international attention, Rogge has turned down the request. The Summer Olympics begin in London on July 27.

In a May 1 letter this year, Rogge wrote that “the IOC has paid tribute to the athletes on several occasions. Within the Olympic family, the memory of the victims of the terrible massacre in Munich in 1972 will never fade away.

In recent days, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and the widows of the murdered athletes have released a video to help the campaign.

“This video is one minute long, the same amount of time we are asking the International Olympic Committee to stop and remember, contemplate and to send a message that the international sporting community will stand against hatred and violence,” Ayalon says in the video.

Hebrew may be a difficult language, but that hasn’t kept Poles from
trying to learn it. These days, stories by Etgar Keret and songs by
popular singer Aviv Gefen serve as instructional texts

In recent years, no fewer than 13 Hebrew language faculties have
launched throughout Poland. In addition to the academic area, a number
of private schools that teach students the wonders of the written
language, as well as an ulpan that teaches spoken Hebrew, which operates
in Warsaw’s Jewish community.

Reading from right to left, the strange letters, and the guttural
sounds of Hebrew don’t seem to put off Poles.

According to Israeli
Ambassador Zvi Rav-Ner, several hundred Polish citizens are currently
studying Hebrew, and the demand is growing.

“This makes me very happy,” Rav-Ner said. “I ask the students why
they are studying Hebrew, and their answers are interesting. They say
that the Jewish and Yiddish cultures are part of Poland’s history and
culture and they want to learn about it.”

“Some say that they want to help make Polish society, which is mainly Catholic, more diverse,” he continued.

The embassy provides assistance for Hebrew courses in the form of
textbooks and in inviting Hebrew instructors to work in Poland.

Anna Zaluska, 25, who teaches Hebrew at a private language school in
Warsaw, explained that one reason for the increased interest in Hebrew study is increased economic cooperation between Israel and Poland.

“There are also Poles who want to study Hebrew because they have an
Israeli partner,” Zaluska noted.

However, despite renewed interest, Hebrew language study is not an
entirely new phenomenon. The University of Warsaw has been teaching
Hebrew since 1950. The Hebrew study curriculum includes, among other
sources, books by contemporary popular writers Eshkol Nevo and songs by Teapacks.

Spice
Way also has a visitor center in Northern Israel, where customers can
order hand-blended herbal tea infusions and culinary seasonings.

"Who
would imagine that a British person would drink anything other than tea
with milk -- which I do still drink at 4 o'clock, of course -- but
these tea infusions are just something else again, and they are quite
extraordinary," says Marian, one of England's growing aficionados of
Spice Way herbal teas imported from Israel.

Herbalist Avi
Zithershpieler, owner of the Spicy Way shop and visitor center in
Northern Israel, has entered some of his infusions in international
competitions, and has met success with blends such as Posh Pomelo and
Melon.

"This new concept, very new and fresh, [is] you don't only
drink your tea," says Zithershpieler, who also hand-blends seasonings
from 300 varieties of seeds, leaves, roots, fruits, nuts and vegetables.
"You eat it, and it's also a meal."

JERUSALEM (AP) — Cisco Systems Inc. CEO and Chairman John Chambers
on Wednesday introduced a campaign to help create 12,000 high-tech jobs
in Israel’s distressed Arab sector over the next four years.

Chambers said the initiative represents an expansion of “Maantech,” a
year-old project launched by high-tech companies that aims to reduce
economic gaps between Israel’s Arabs and Jews.

Arabs make up roughly one-fifth of Israel’s 8 million citizens. While
they enjoy full citizenship rights, they are generally poorer, less
educated and frequently suffer discrimination in the housing and job
markets.

Israel is a global technology powerhouse, and the high-tech sector is
a major growth engine for the local economy. High-tech firms are among
the highest paying and most respected places to work.

“We have an opportunity to show the rest of the world what we can do
together with a government that really gets it and with citizens who
really get it,” Chambers said. “If we can move to 12,000 (new employees)
within four years, it would be an indication of what’s possible.”

When Maantech was launched in February 2011, less than a half a
percent of employees in Israeli technology companies were Arabs, the
company said. Since then, more than 22 companies have joined the
project, bringing 324 qualified Israeli Arabs into their ranks, still a
small percentage.

Cisco is the program’s main source of funds. Other participants
include Google Inc., Intel Corp., IBM Corp. and Check Point Software
Technologies Ltd., the company said in a statement.

Chambers made his announcement at a conference sponsored by Israel’s president, Shimon Peres.

Appearing with the Cisco CEO, Peres said the corporate world is key to promoting coexistence and fighting racism.

“No government or policy could do it. You need the companies,” Peres
said, adding that “this is the way to pave to peace.” Peres won the 1994
Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli and Palestinian leaders for peace
efforts.

Several new companies joined Maantech Wednesday, including Israeli
telecommunications giant Bezeq, Cadence Design Systems Inc. and OnTarget
Communications, according to a statement from the Israeli president’s
office.

To hip hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is like “a rap beef” that can be resolved through dialogue and
understanding.

“A little trust, and it’s over,” he said.

The cofounder of the pioneering Def Jam Recordings record label,
which has represented such artists like the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Lady
Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, LL Cool J and Kanye West, is in Israel on the
invitation of Israeli President Shimon Peres.

When he isn’t managing his clothing line Phat Farm or promoting
artists, Simmons champions an eclectic mix of causes, from veganism to
gay rights to yoga.

In Israel, he’s focusing on interfaith trust. He said creating
dialogue should be as simple as a mediating a rap battle, were it not
for the political deadlock between Palestinians and Israelis.

Muslims and Jews “have the same aspirations and goals that are much
greater than the things they call differences,” Simmons said.

Simmons is one of the wealthiest figures in hip hop, with a net worth reportedly totaling at least $340 million.

He was one of the first players in the burgeoning hip hop scene in
the 1980s. His younger brother is Rev. Joseph Simmons (“Run” of
Run-DMC).

Simmons arrived in Israel on behalf of a foundation that aims to
promote face-to-face dialogue between ethnic and religious communities.
He discussed yoga with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmed
Hussein, and received a blessing from the rabbi of the Western Wall,
Shmuel Rabinowitz.

Simmons even did a headstand in front of the Dome of the Rock, one of
the holiest sites to Muslims, though he said it was “for the kids” and
not for any yogic spiritual reason.

A group of IDC students parody sexy cats in support of the trap-neuter-return policy

Cats. They’ve got fans and foes in this country, but one group of
media communication students from the Interdisciplinary Center in
Herzliya is looking out for this particular stray population. As part of
their viral advertising class, the students created a pro-cat video
promoting TNR, Trap Neuter Return in Tel Aviv, a method endorsed by the
ASPCA for controlling feral cat societies.

With photos and lyrics parodying “I’m sexy and I know it,” the song
from American electropop duo LMFAO, the idea was to create an “original
production” about Tel Aviv’s stray cats, said Yuna Klimenko, one of the
IDC students.

“We thought that cats are people’s favorite pets,” said Klimenko.

Not exactly, but it depends who you ask. Local folklore has it that
the British are to blame for Israel’s stray cat population, having
brought cats in during the period of the Mandate in order to get rid of
rats.

Yet the problem could have been created long before that: Geneticists
from the National Cancer Institute study established that the world’s
600 million cats are descended from five wildcat matriarchs, including
at least one from deserts of Israel, so it may be that the British are
not entirely to blame.

Nicknamed ‘White City’ because of its abundance of white Bauhaus
buildings, Tel Aviv hosted its first ever fashion week last year. The
country that until relatively recently considered fashion and tailoring
bourgeois relics from Europe, is now dubbed theNew York of the Middle East and
is spinning with young designers, gaining a following for its street
style, and is home to a small army of hip-young-things.

While the likes of Chanel, Prada, Burberry and Ralph Lauren have been
the ticking clock of the fashion world for decades, there is an
insatiable appetite for influences from further afield. Cue Tel Aviv.
Last November’s fashion week was well aligned with the city’s spike in
all things cool. Here we catch up with a few people whose work is
turning Tel Aviv into a stylish force to be reckoned with.

Alon Livne

It’s safe to say Alon Livne is
one of Israel’s most-watched fashion designers. By the age of 22, he’d
already worked for Roberto Cavalli in Florence and trained at Alexander
McQueen’s House in London. Back in Israel, in 2009 he won the local
equivalent to “Project Runway” and has gone on to collaborate with the
Israeli fashion chain Castro and most recently Lee Jeans where
he brought together the casual world of denim and the delicate,
feminine world of ballet. The result is a dreamy capsule of delicately
tailored denim leotards and pieced-together tops.

Looking at Livne’s collections, it’s easy to see he’s trained with
McQueen, probably one of the best tailors the fashion world has ever
seen. Livne’s work is structured, yet feminine, with interesting lines
and fabrics and everything is expertly tailored, draped, and fitted.
He’s got skills and he knows how to use them.

I wondered if it was a tough decision to return to his hometown after
working with such famous international designers and obviously
possessing an incredible talent that could pave his way in any big
fashion city.

“I felt an urge to work from my hometown, to build myself as a unique
and independent designer. I think it is important for a designer from
every field to connect with his roots and local background.”

Tel Aviv does have a unique allure to it and those from Tel Aviv seem
helplessly drawn back to it time and time again. Livne’s recent
collection is inspired by the iconic buildings of the Catholic church in
Europe and in old Jerusalem. Tel Aviv, however, has a world-famous
collection of Bauhaus-style buildings which is no less magnificent, even
with their obvious signs of age.

“The first buildings of the city – from the beginning of the 20th
century – presents a unique and fascinating combination of design style
and culture between west and east tradition. I find all this so very
inspiring.”

Ha Garçonnière

Ha Garçonnière,
the men’s fashion blog written by best friends Eyal de Leeuw and Sahar
Shalev, teaches men how to be stylish gentleman on all points. Bows,
suits and endless class, it’s hard to deny these two have a strong sense
of cool. After living abroad and returning to Tel Aviv, both gents
noticed the lacklustre menswear on their home streets. Determined to
make a little dent in the way men dress, they started a humble blog
which has become a worldwide affair despite (or because of?) it being
written entirely in Hebrew. Pulling inspiration from the
sharp-dressed-men of old, obscure books, current menswear magazines, and
‘unknown streets abroad’ these guys know how to dress and I suspect
their blog has been a big inspiration behind the recent surge of Tel Aviv street-style covered by many a blogger around the world. Now there’s a full-fashion-circle for you.

The aim of Ha Garçonnière is “to connect heritage to the contemporary
and to show that in order to break the rules you have to know them
pretty well… Tel Aviv has always been an intersection of cultures. Since
we live here, we know that people are curious, thriving for new things
and more information about what’s going on in the world – and we are
trying to be the messengers of such point of view.” Very noble, indeed!

What do they love about Tel Aviv?

“We see Tel Aviv as a mixture of so many things – east & west,
beauty & ugliness, hutzpa & kindness. It is a very cosmopolitan
city by the vast influences that it reflects upon itself. If any of the
spirit comes out, its amazing creativity, we can only hope it will set
real sustainable stylish trends, not ones that disappear so fast.”

Pas Pour Toi

Dorit Bar Or, the well-known Israeli actress showed her beautiful Pas Pour Toi collection
at the Tel Aviv fashion week last year. Garnering much acclaim, the
all-black collection embellished with rich gold details was inspired by
the famous Israeli rabbi, Ovadia Yosef. A proud Israeli, Bar Or draws
her inspiration from all over the middle east including Golda Meir and
the Egyptian singer, Umm Khultum, who she believes was the original original diva.

Feminine but strong and always sexy pieces, Bar Or designs for
confident women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go for it. I
get the feeling she’s not unfamiliar with these traits. It takes a
certain type of woman to play the Israeli Peggy Bundy in the local
version of Married with Children to which Bar Or asks, “Don’t you find
it hilarious that I play a woman with so little style?” But acting alone
doesn’t do it for Bar Or anymore.

“My gift and my curse is that I have to create all the time. Now I
find it more interesting to create an outfit rather than reading someone
else’s lines.”

What about Tel Aviv keeps the ever-glamorous, fire-engine-red-haired
designer/actress from wandering away to Europe or another alluring city?

“Tel Aviv is my city for better or for worse. We are very eclectic
people gathering goods from all over the world. We have the best
nightclubs, bars, and restaurants. Just a few weeks ago we held the gay
parade in which they closed half of Tel Aviv. And our film industry –
people are now buying scripts written by Israelis that win awards such
as: Homeland.”

How can you get your hands on Pas Por Toi? She recommends you visit
Tel Aviv and visit them in the concept store in Neve Zedek, one of the
oldest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, where they have the atelier, the
store, garden, office and library.

Gusta

Ayala Meromi Keinan started Gusta eight
years ago in Tel Aviv, a chic, urban line of womens wear that looks just
as well-matched with a sky-high pair of heels as it does with a beat-up
pair of motorcycle boots. Gusta works for just about anyone, just about
anywhere.

The Gusta studio and one of their two shops is located in the center
of the famous Jaffa Flea Market which is fitting for a designer who
draws inspiration from the streets of Tel Aviv – the architecture, the
people, the musicians. She says the spirit of Tel Aviv is “youthful and
intense,” a couple of words that could easily describe Gusta.

“I think that my designs hold together the spirit of a young city
mixed with foreign cultures which have merged here over the years.” Her
plans are to stay in Tel Aviv but to open up Gusta to the world via an
online shop, which we personally don’t think can come soon enough!

Yohji Yamamoto

This year Tel Aviv will be hosting one of fashion’s most celebrated
designers as Yohji Yamamoto exhibits more than 80 of his signature
silhouettes at the Design Museum Holon.
The exhibition marks the 40th anniversary of his company Y’s and the
60th anniversary of the Japan-Israel relationship. The visionary
designer explains that, “After exhibiting in London, Florence and Paris,
it is a natural flow for me to organize an exhibition in Israel this
time – a country very rich in culture. In an era where we only receive
prepared information, as a thinker, I want to see Israel with my own
eyes and feel it through my skin to get to know it well. Now I will be
able to experience it live.”

Saturday, June 16, 2012

ALERT:Take Action to Stop the United Church’s Boycott of Israeli Communities

This August, delegates from across the country will meet at the General
Council of the United Church of Canada (UCC), at which they will vote
on a proposed Church policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Alarmingly, this new policy – if adopted – would include a Church-wide boycott of Israeli products from settlement communities.
This is based on the view of a United Church working group report that
Israel’s presence in the West Bank is the “primary contributor to the
injustice that underlies the violence of the region.” On this basis, the
Church is now being called upon to level pressure solely against Israel
to end the conflict – rather than emphasizing mutual obligations and
reconciliation between the two sides.

Sadly, the United Church report ignores the fact that the vast majority
of Israelis are prepared to make serious compromises on the settlements
when Israel is met by a reliable partner for peace. In 1982, Israel
withdrew thousands of settlers from the Sinai after signing a peace
agreement with Egypt – and peace has since been upheld. In 2005, Israel
withdrew every last settlement (over 8,000 civilians) from Gaza as a
painful, unilateral decision – and there have since been 10,000 missiles
and mortars fired from Gaza into southern Israel. The removal of settlers from Gaza is not mentioned once in the United Church’s report.

The lesson is clear. Although the vast majority of Israelis are willing
to offer compromises on the West Bank settlements, the Palestinian
leadership must first sign a final peace agreement with security
guarantees (as required by international law) in order to protect the
next generation of Israeli children from Palestinian terrorism. Shockingly, the words “Hamas” and “Hezbollah” do not appear even once in the United Church’s 26-page report.

There’s a world of difference between being pro-Palestinian and simply anti-Israel. If
the United Church ratifies this highly biased report without amendment,
it will place the Church outside the genuine peace movement and in the
same camp as the most virulent anti-Israel activists – those in the
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign.

Now is the time for Jewish Canadians to make their voice heard. Here are three simple ways you can make a difference today:

1) Get the facts on the UCC report – go to www.cija.ca/issues/ucc
2) Call, email, or meet with members or clergy of a United Church in your area – search for a local congregation here.

3) Forward this email to your contacts to help raise awareness about this.

US actor celebrates ceremony at Western Wall while visiting Israel to film travel series

When American actor David Arquette arrived in Israel to film an
episode of a popular tourism series, he never imagined he would end up
have a Bar Mitzva ceremony of his own at the Western Wall.

Arquette, 41, ex-husband of actress Courtney Cox, arrived in Israel
on Friday to shoot “Trippin,” a 12-episode travel show that spans across
the US, Morocco, Thailand and several others countires. The actor and
crew visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Masada over the course of three
days of filming.

While attending a Bar Mitzva held for a local boy in Jerusalem, the
hosts suggested Arquette should have his own coming of age ceremony,
traditionally celebrated at the age of 13. “Better late than never,”
they told him.

Arquette, whose mother was Jewish, liked the idea and soon made
arrangements to ascend the synagogue platform to read from the Torah and
put on the phylacteries – a Jewish prayer ritual – for the first time.

During his visit to Jerusalem, Arquette was also learned how to cook
Old Testament foods with Chef Moshe Basson from the Eucalyptus
Restaurant, as well as go on a shopping spree at the Mahane Yehuda
market.

His itinerary for Tel Aviv included fishing in Jaffa and serving as a guest of a DJ at local night club.

Moldova’s prime minister says his country would like stronger ties with Israel.

Vlad Filat made the appeal Sunday as he met with Zoram Dori, adviser
to Israeli President Shimon Peres, during a four-day festival of 400
Jewish artists, scientists and musicians from the former Soviet Union,
Israel and the US. (AP)

On Wednesday, President Shimon Peres was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom-- the highest civilian award the United States government can bestow upon an individual. In a gala dinner held inWashington in Peres' honor, US President Barack Obama praised the Israeli president's legacy and efforts on behalf of peace. Accepting the award, Peres said he was profoundly moved by the honor, addingthat it was "a testament to the historic friendship" between Israel and the US.

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hosted President Shimon Peres at the Pentagon on Monday, saying that military cooperation between the US and Israel was stronger than it has ever been as well as stable andongoing. Peres visited the Pentagon as part of a multi-day visit to the US in which he is scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama. In addition to meeting Panetta, Peres took part in a roundtable discussion with other senior US officials, including US military chief Gen. Martin Dempsey. Peres took the opportunity to voice Israel's concerns about Iran potentially obtaining nuclear weapons, accusing the Islamic Republic of desiring to "take control of the Middle East" as part of its religiously inspired imperialistic ambitions.

TORONTO (JTA) — - Canada has joined an
international campaign for a moment of silence at the opening of the
London Olympics to mark the 40th anniversary of the killing of Israeli athletes at the Munich Games.

On Thursday, Canada’s House of Commons
unanimously passed a motion to commemorate the “tragic terrorist events
of the 1972 Munich Olympics wherein 11 Israeli athletes were murdered.”

“Civil society groups and political leaders
around the world have been calling on the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) to hold a moment of silence at the opening ceremony of
the London Games,” said Liberal Party parliament member Irwin Cotler,
who proposed the resolution. “I am delighted that the Canadian
Parliament is the first to unanimously support this call.”

A spokesperson for Canadian Foreign Affairs
Minister John Baird said the minister called IOC president Jacques Rogge
this week and “re-iterated his strong support” for the official
commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the attack, reports the
National Post newspaper. That followed a letter Baird sent Rogge this
month saying Canada “strongly supports Israel’s request” for a moment of
silence at the opening ceremony in London.

The IOC last month has scotched any
possibility of a tribute to the Israeli athletes at the opening
ceremony, leaving Israeli politicians fuming. The committee “has
regularly commemorated the 1972 tragedy and will do so once more in
London at a ceremony during the Games, but there will not be a minute’s
silence in the opening ceremony,” an IOC spokesperson told Agence France
Presse.

As during every Summer Olympics since 1972,
the Israeli Olympic committee will organize a memorial. Rogge will take
part in the London ceremony, as he did at the one at the 2008 Games in
Beijing, the spokesperson added.

Israel’s Arava desert gets just 30 millimeters of rainfall a year,
but it produces 60 percent of Israel’s fresh vegetable exports, 10% of
cut flower exports … and now it has a thriving ornamental fish industry,
too.

“The desert is dry and all the water that we have here first of all
is water that we drill here in the Arava; we’re not connected to a
national water system,” explains Alon Gadiel, director of the Arava
Research and Development Center. Yet Israel is in the top six exporting
countries for aquarium fish, and there are now 18 fish farms in the
Arava. Three of them breed the clownfish better known as Nemos because
of the hit movie “Finding Nemo.”

“A business like aquaculture is a very good business because you
don’t need a lot of land, and you don’t need a lot of water. You need a
lot of knowledge,” says Gadiel. In addition, he stresses, “We breed fish that originally grow in the sea, and we sell them from captivity so we prevent harming the ecosystem.”

Seret festival is brainchild of Haroush, former manager of London Ahava cosmetics store.

Photo: Courtesy
LONDON

London is set to host the UK’s first-ever Israeli film festival which
kicks off on Thursday with a celebration of work celebrating the contribution
that Israeli film and television has made and the diversity of its
projects.

Seret, the London Israeli Film & Television Festival, is
the brainchild of Odelia Haroush, a former manager of the Ahava cosmetics store
in London targeted last year by anti-Israel activists; Anat Koren, editor of
Alondon, a popular magazine in Hebrew for London’s extensive Israeli community;
and Patty Hochmann, a member of the Israeli Film Academy.

Haroush said
she hoped the festival would provide a window to Israeli culture and life and
show how Israel’s film and television industry is flourishing.

She said
she was motivated after experiencing weekly protests by anti- Israel activists
at Ahava.

Koren and Hochmann, who were roommates at Tel Aviv University
some years ago, got together with Haroush last summer to put the festival
together.

“We all realized that there is no Israeli film festival in
London, as there are in various places around the world, such as New York,
Chicago, Amsterdam and Paris.

“The Israel film and TV industry is
flourishing with many Israeli television programs are being bought by US and UK
distributors,” Haroush told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. “We wanted to show
the UK audience the culture and social diversity in everyday life in Israel
through the medium of film and television.”

There is no better example
than the successful Homeland, a US adaptation of his Israeli television series
Hatufim (Prisoners of War) (2009), which has won two Golden Globes and has been
screened in more than 40 countries.

The festival will screen 14 Israeli
films at various London cinemas showcasing the outstanding contribution of
Israeli film and television to the arts. Some of the films’ directors will
feature in question and answer sessions.

Episodes from the award-winning
sit-com Ramzor (Traffic Light), which was adapted by Fox in the US and bought by
Russian television channel RTC, and award-winning drama Pilpilim Tzehubim
(Yellow Peppers) will make up the festival’s program.

Friday
sees an industry day which provides an opportunity to meet Israeli filmmakers
and television program creators.

The aim is to facilitate discussions
about collaboration and broaden the communication that already exists between
the British and Israeli industries.

“The day will give a opportunity to
directors and other talents that we are bringing from Israel to meet and discuss
their last and next projects with some important figures from the film and TV
industry in the UK,” Haroush said.

An Israeli company, Cellint Traffic Solutions recently announced that
it has signed an exclusive deal with Rogers Communications to launch a
country-wide traffic information service in Canada later this year.

Cellint, which was founded in 2005 and has headquarters near Tel
Aviv, is the leading provider of real-time road traffic information
based on cellular data.

Cellint’s high resolution traffic information provides detection of
relevant slowdowns, similar to road sensors, as well as travel time.

“We are excited to work with Rogers and we already see great interest
from major industry players and key customers,” said Cellint CEO Ofer
Avni.

“The combination of Rogers and Cellint is about to provide a higher
standard of traffic information service in Canada than ever seen before,
enabling Canadian drivers to make the most informed decisions related
to their driving plans in real time.”

The company uses a technology called “TrafficSense” to continually
provide traffic information through analysis of anonymous signaling data
of mobile phones operating on Rogers 2G and 3G networks in vehicles.

All active phones provide anonymous travel time samples by matching
their signaling data with a database of unique cellular signatures for
each road, generated by the technology.

The traffic flow information is automatically analyzed and is
distributed through text messages, voice messages, mapping information,
TMC reports and other tools.

The service will be delivered to car manufacturers, navigation
providers, mobile users, mapping portals and government agencies,
according to a press release.

The first customer signed is a major public transit provider in Western Canada.

“Rogers is thrilled to be working with Cellint to deliver accurate
and timely traffic information to players across Canada, helping
businesses more efficiently manage assets that are on the move and to
better the commuting experience for Canadians,” said Mansell Nelson,
Vice-President of Rogers Machine-to-Machine.

45 years ago today, the Six-Day War began when the Israel Air
Force launched a preemptive strike against Egyptian forces mobilized in
the Sinai Peninsula.

At the time, Hillel Erman was a 30-year-old staff sergeant
serving in a reserve unit of the IDF Paratroopers Brigade. He sat down
with us earlier this week and answered a few questions about his
memories of the Six-Day War.

Six-Day War veteran Hillel Erman (Photo by Zev Marmorstein)

Do you remember the lead-up to the war?

Yes, I remember it well, like it was yesterday. I remember when Egypt
closed the Straits of Tiran and prevented Israeli ships from entering or
leaving Eilat. And I remember when Egypt mobilized its forces in the
Sinai Peninsula — and expelled the U.N. troops that were in the area.
The prime minister at the time was Levi Eshkol. He was under tremendous
pressure to do something against the threat. The reserves could not stay
mobilized forever, nor could they go home in the face of such danger.

Menachem Begin, who was in the Knesset opposition, joined the
governing coalition, which strengthened the resolve of the public.
People were very scared. They saw how the Arab nations around us were
preparing for war, and we didn’t do anything.

Where were you at the time?

I was called up 18 days before the war started. My brigade, the 35th,
was in the Ben Shemen forest near Jerusalem. We practiced in the forest
so that no one could see the training. I remember the time there was
boring — we didn’t know when the war was going to start, and we just
waited.

The army was pressuring the government to make a decision — either
attack or send the soldiers home. I remember that I was wondering what I
should take with me on the plane, since I couldn’t carry much on me
with all my parachuting gear. I didn’t know if I should take more clean
underwear or more food — I didn’t know what to expect. At some point, my
unit was moved to Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on the Gaza border. The Egyptians
fired on the Kibbutz and the fields around it caught on fire. Some of
the other soldiers in my brigade had lived on kibbutzim before, and they
knew how to deal with such things. We all helped to put out the fire.

Where did you serve during the war itself? How was it when the war started?

In early June, we were moved near the Egyptian border and were told to
wait until someone called us on the secure Red Line and gave us the code
for the green light. At 7 a.m. on June 5, we received the call with the
secret code — “Red Sheet”. We heard that the Israel Air Force bombed
the Egyptian Air Force.

It was a very difficult fight. We were two Paratroopers Brigades and
30 tanks from the 7th Armored Brigade. The battle took place in Rafah,
and the Egyptians were hiding in 12 km long ditches. After 24 hours, the
battle was over. Out of 600 Israeli soldiers, 30 were killed and 40
were injured. One of the soldiers who was killed was my officer.

After Rafah, we were sent to Khan Yunis and then to the Suez Canal.
On our way to the Suez Canal, two Egyptian planes attacked my brigade on
the road. Two soldiers were killed. By the time we arrived at the
canal, the war was already over.

What was the IDF’s biggest achievement in the war?

The biggest achievement was that the IAF targeted Egyptian runways in
order to prevent the Egyptian Air Force from taking off. Then, the IAF
bombed the Egyptian planes that were stuck on the ground. All in all,
our Air Force destroyed an 80 percent of the Egyptian Air Force, which
was much stronger than ours at the time.

An IDF fighter jet flies overhead. (Photo courtesy of Hillel Erman)

Do you have any other specific memories from the war?

In El-Arish, my commander, Raful Eitan, who later became the Chief of
Staff, was shot in the head from one of the tunnels. The bullet
scratched his forehead, went into his helmet and came out from the
middle of it. He was taken to the hospital, and for some time my brigade
didn’t have a commander.

After a while, a new commander came to take over. He didn’t know the
exact location of the brigade, and he asked me on the two-way radio to
give him our location. It was forbidden at the time to broadcast such
precise information on the radio, in case the Egyptians were listening.
In order for him to prove his identity, I asked him for the color of his
beard. When he answered that his beard was black and white, I knew who
he was, and he gave me an order to tell him where we were.

What did you do after the war?

I left the army for a while and went to study, and then joined the army
again, as a career officer, and served in the Paratroopers Brigade.
After eight years, I retired from the army with the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel and returned to reserve duty. During my reserve duty, I served
in a secret unit.

A damaged Egyptian tank on the side of the road. (Photo courtesy of Hillel Erman)

Did you participate in any other wars? What do you do today?

Yes. I was 19-years old and in active duty during the Sinai Campaign. I
also participated in the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War.
Today, I participate in a lot of charity work, and play soccer every
Friday with a group of friends.

Countless rescue and humanitarian aid missions in disaster regions all
over the world have made the IDF experts in emergency relief. On May
15th, 2012 Israeli and US forces held a joint emergency rescue drill.
Together, they trained how to extract injured victims from a collapsed
building, to clear paths through debris and to navigate in the chaos
that is left by a natural disaster. The IDF plans to hold similar drills
each year with teams of the US Armed Forces, in order to pass on their
knowledge and prepare for future disasters.

Readers of online travel mag, Travelers
Digest, think the men and women of Tel Aviv are among the best looking
in the world. Of course we agree.

Tel Aviv has been getting lots of attention lately as
a party city, a startup city and a gay-friendly city. Now all eyes are
on Israel’s second-largest municipality because of the beautiful people
who inhabit it.

Travelers Digest readers ranked Tel Aviv No. 10 on its 2012 list of Cities with the Best-Looking Men and No. 7 on its companion list of Cities with the Best-Looking Women.

“Tel Aviv has become a hot spot for trendsetters worldwide. Local cuties
flaunt their fit bodies – made all the better by their year-round tans –
at any of the numerous beaches and cafés found on the 10-mile seaside
strip,” wrote journalist Jessica Benavides Canepa.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria visits Tel Aviv, calls it a Hub
of Vibrant life and Technology. Wants to promote Tel Aviv vibrancy

Four Israeli hackers were included in Twitter’s “2012 White Hat
Hackers” list, honoring users who contributed to the social media
platform’s security protocols, thus preventing user information from
being compromised.

Twitter, issues the list annually, hailing “independent researchers
that volunteer their time and help us recognize problem area and improve
security.”

Seventeen people were included in the list in 2012. The four Israelis
in question are all cyber-security experts who are employed by top
Israeli information security firms.

The four were credited for recognizing a crucial “hole” in Twitter
itself and in its smartphone application, that could potentially allow
hackers to take over user accounts.

They also offered solutions and helped Twitter through the repair process.

Technology developed by head of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Energy Center creates mixture that can be used for car fuel.

A new Israeli solar technology is able to transform greenhouse gas emissions from the dirtiest of pollutants into a useable fuel for automobiles.

Israeli startup NewCO2Fuels Ltd., in partnership with Australian firm
Greenearth Energy Ltd., has acquired the license for a technology
developed by Prof. Jacob Karni, head of the Weizmann Institute of
Science’s Energy Center in the department of environmental sciences and
energy research, as well as supervisor for the institute’s solar
program.

The innovation uses concentrated solar energy to dissociate carbon dioxide
into carbon monoxide and oxygen, as well as water into hydrogen and
oxygen, allowing for the synthesis of the carbon monoxide and hydrogen
into a gaseous hydrocarbon mixture called Syngas.

The Syngas, in turn, can be converted into methanol for vehicular use.

Karni’s research, which was conducted in partnership with Dr. Avner
Rothschild from the Technion, received a $200,000 grant from the Silicon
Valley-based organization Israel Strategic Alternative Energy
Foundation in 2010.

Logistically, the solar heat generation occurs on parabolic dishes,
which reflect the light captured to a reactor, a focal point of the
parabola that allows for extremely high temperature generation,
explained David Banitt, the CEO and major
shareholder of NewCO2 Fuels. At the reactor site, the carbon dioxide
enters and splits due to the heat, with carbon monoxide exiting through
one pipe and oxygen through a second, Banitt told The Jerusalem Post. The same process applies to water, for hydrogen and oxygen.

“The process becomes much more effective if it’s performed at much higher temperatures,” he said.

The hydrogen and carbon monoxide can then come together to form Syngas, which in turn can be converted into methanol for fuel.

Methanol is already in use for vehicle propulsion in several
countries around the world, and a Dor Chemicals and Ten Gasoline
partnership is currently performing an experiment in Israel with a blend of methanol and benzene.

“We would like to produce methanol that would be cost competitive to gasoline,” Banitt said.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Jewish community applauds Toronto City Council's condemnation of fallacious term "Israeli Apartheid"

TORONTO, 7 June 2012 – B’nai Brith Canada has commended Toronto City Council members on the passage of a motion condemning the use of the fallacious term "Israeli Apartheid" at Toronto’s Pride parade. The term has been used by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, an anti-Israel protest group that plans to participate in this summer's parade, in reference to the State of Israel. B'nai Brith is anticipating Toronto City Council's upcoming anti-discrimination policy debate where it hopes the policy will be revised to prevent the use of the term "Israeli Apartheid" at taxpayer-funded events.

Upon passage of the motion at today’s Toronto City Council session, Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada issued the following statement:

“Queers Against Israeli Apartheid’s participation in Pride Toronto not only defies logic, berating the sole Middle East country that fully welcomes the LGBT community, but also runs counter to the original philosophy of the parade itself, a celebration of diversity and acceptance. The passage of this motion condemning the use of the term “Israeli Apartheid" at Pride has signaled to Toronto, and indeed the entire country, that hate and intolerance are not welcome at Canada’s largest Pride festival. This is an important step as the City of Toronto joins numerous other Canadian government voices in recognizing that the "Israeli Apartheid" label is fallacious and divisive."

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Organization aims to bring sustainable development to schools, orphanages and medical clinics in rural African villages.

Photo: Matthew Reber

By installing a small set of solar panels in some of the most remote of African villages, Sivan Borowich-Ya’ari and her organization Jewish Heart for Africa are able to bring electricity to schools, orphanages and medical clinics that have never seen artificial light before.

This week, Jewish Heart for Africa is officially marking having helped 250,000 people throughout the continent, bringing them sustainable solutions that allow for the fulfillment of basic life needs. Based in New York City, the organization is a 501-c3 nonprofit whose goal is to save African lives using Israeli sustainable technology. Founded in 2008 by French-Israeli Borowich- Ya’ari, 33, as of Tuesday, the group had completed 58 solar projects at schools, medical clinics and orphanages in villages throughout Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. The project that had just been completed as Borowich-Ya’ari spoke to The Jerusalem Post over the phone from New York on Tuesday evening was in the village of Nthodo, Malawi.

“Our priority is really to get where the need is the greatest,” she said.

Borowich-Ya’ari, who received her masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University, began her career bringing sustainable energy to Africa while working for a United Nations development program. From there, she decided to establish her own organization, to bring similar aid to African villages through an Israeli lens.

“Israel has so much to offer and Israel managed to cope with a land that was without any kind of resources, and today it is one of the most innovative countries,” she said. “I’m sure that if we can transfer these technologies to the people that are most in need, we can help them.”

First and foremost, the solar panels bring something as simple as electric light to the communities, Borowich- Ya’ari explained. The villages need to have at least 1,000 residents and be far from the national grid, she added. After receiving a commitment to maintaining the solar facilities from the local government, Jewish Heart for Africa teams teach the local residents about what is going to be happening and how solar energy functions.

“Most of them haven’t seen light in their life,” Borowich-Ya’ari said.

Upon arrival to any of these villages, visitors will usually see a simple medical clinic that has essentially nothing inside – no light and no refrigerator for medications.

“If you want to find a medical clinic at night you can’t,” she said.

The photovoltaic systems that Jewish Heart for Africa installs include storage batteries so that energy captured during the day can also be used at night, according to Borowich-Ya’ari. Team members always make sure to then install light bulbs in various places around the village, with at least four outside the medical clinic.

Within the clinic, the organization brings in 50- to 60-liter refrigerators that have ample room for vaccines – a feature that also attracts doctors to come live in the area. In addition to powering the medical clinic, the local school and the orphanages, the group also ensures, as an incentive, that the homes of doctors, nurses and teachers all receive electricity, Borowich-Ya’ari explained.

Once the medical clinics are equipped with electricity and refrigerators, lines and lines of people ready to receive vaccinations quickly form, and the organization has now vaccinated over 100,000 people, she said.

The average cost per project is about $10,000, much of which is raised through donations from the global Jewish community. By bringing in sustainable Israeli technologies to African villages, the organization also hopes to improve Israel’s image worldwide, according to Borowich-Ya’ari.

In addition to providing basic electricity needs, the solar panels have also paved the way for clean water access in several villages, Borowich-Ya’ari said. In a few of the villages, Jewish Heart for Africa has installed water pumps – powered by the solar panels – that each pump over 20,000 liters of water per day. Thus far, four of these have been completed in Uganda and Tanzania, and one in Malawi.

Borowich-Ya’ari hopes to continue bringing vaccines, solar energy and drinkable water to more and more villages throughout Africa.

“The demand is so great,” she said. “You look into the eyes of the children – everyone needs it.”

ACT NOW for ISRAEL: Flush ‘LUSH’ Cosmetics!

LUSH Cosmetics has quietly closed its Beverly Hills, California location several months after a group known as “Join the Boycott LA” (www.JTBLA.com) organized a protest outside the store to expose the company’s support of PLO extremism. LUSH, with headquarters in the UK and stores in over 40 countries around the world, is using its customers’ money to support the PLO’s extremist “One World Campaign”. This virulently anti-Israel organization portrays Israel as an “illegal” occupier committing crimes against “Palestine” and grossly exaggerates the suffering in Gaza, placing responsibility solely on the Israelis.

There is much more work to be done. We urge you to ACT NOW FOR ISRAEL by sending an email to customercare@lush.co.uk to protest their anti-Israel extremism.

It has come to our attention that LUSH, a leading luxury handmade cosmetics company, gives a percentage of its profits to an anti-Israel organization called “OneWorld”. Upon visiting the OneWorld website (http://freedomoneworld.org/), it is very clear that they are supported by extreme anti-Israel groups that are sympathetic to terrorist activity against the State of Israel. For example, one of the supporting groups is called “Friends of al-Aqsa”. Visiting their website speaks for itself: http://www.foa.org.uk/.

Did You Know?

Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

Did You Know?

An Israeli-initiated project is drastically lowering the mortality rate of Ethiopian children infected with the AIDS/HIV virus.

LIVE Talk Radio from Israel – Tuesday Nights!

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Straight from the heart of Jerusalem comes the only English talk show on broadcast radio in the State of Israel. News, interviews, culture and ideas mixed with positivity and pride in the free, fruitful, and flourishing Jewish homeland.

Yishai and Malkah Fleisher, two well-known internet radio personalities, made the leap to broadcast radio on the new Galey Yisrael station in Israel, blazing a trail to create content for the growing segment of the Israeli public that speaks English. You won’t want to miss it!

We will be broadcast LIVE FROM ISRAEL every Tuesday Night from 5:00pm – 7:00pm (EST)

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I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.- Golda Meir